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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29225163">Overextension</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkwerkee/pseuds/Merkwerkee'>Merkwerkee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Magical Space Prince [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Masters of the Metaverse (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Headaches &amp; Migraines, Vomiting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:13:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,449</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29225163</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkwerkee/pseuds/Merkwerkee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Magical Space Prince Chad overdoes it, unused to his new limits, and faces the consequences</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Magical Space Prince [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643158</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Overextension</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chad lay perfectly still on his soft, so wonderfully soft bed, wishing for his head to stop pounding.</p><p>It had started three days ago. Well, in all honesty it had started several weeks ago when Thomas had disappeared from Chad’s soul, but this specific episode had started three days ago. It had started out a day like many others, with the unwelcome addition of a headache that had slowly built itself up behind Chad’s eyes. Normally, he would have just grounded himself in the warmth of his bond with Thomas and kept going; the memory of Thomas’ well-banked fire kept him on an even keel, and reminded Chad of why he’d fought so hard to return to the camaraderie of Brad and the Sparkle Sisters. But Thomas hadn’t been there when he’d reached, and other memories just didn’t have the same effect for some reason. Even Brad could only help so much, and by the end of the day the pain had gotten bad enough that even the thought of taking a mouthful of wonderfully greasy turkey meat had turned Chad’s stomach.</p><p>He should have seen it coming. Ever since Thomas - never Tom - had gone where Chad couldn’t follow, life had gotten much, much more difficult. Random shooting pains in his legs and spine had simply become part of the daily routine, and fine tremors in his hands that he just couldn’t stop had made most of his favorite hobbies either difficult or impossible; still, he’d tried to keep up appearances for the Sparkle Sisters so they wouldn’t worry about him and had been largely successful for the last few weeks. Firmer grips when cooking food, ignoring the shooting pains, walking with a firmer step to avoid stumbles - little things, but they added up over the course of the day and by the time it was time to hit the hay Chad was exhausted. And then he’d get up in the morning to do it all over again, because people were relying on him and he couldn’t let them down. Not again.</p><p>Still, the headache hadn’t gone away overnight, and he’d woken up to the persistent feeling of pins and needles in his left leg - like he’d slept on it funny, but somehow worse. And more persistent; the feeling hadn’t gone away during the day, and over time his right hand had developed a tic as well. He’d taken painkillers and gone to bed earlier than he usually did, though not early enough to excite comment.</p><p>And then yesterday morning - early enough that it might actually still have been the night before - he’d been woken by waves of pain pulsing through his skull. Chad had only just been able to make it to his bathroom before his stomach had violently rejected everything he’d eaten the day before, each heave bringing a fresh roil of agony through his head. Brad had been concerned, but just the smell of him had been enough to send Chad retching into the toilet again and Brad had retreated to the other side of the admittedly palatial bedroom Chad had been accorded aboard the Glamatron.</p><p>After what felt like hours Chad’s stomach had untwisted to the point where he could creep back over to his bed and bury himself there. At some point Brad had thoughtfully lowered the lights, but Chad was too afraid about what might come out if he opened his mouth and ended up waving at his companion in a manner that he desperately hoped would convey his gratitude. Brad didn’t say anything in return, for which Chad could only be grateful; he didn’t really want to know what speech would do to his brain right now.</p><p>The waves of pain in his head pulsed in time to his heartbeat, and started at the Keepstone embedded in his forehead before spreading out to encompass his whole brain. Much, much more acutely than usual anyway; ever since the thing had attached itself to his brain and nervous system a second time the pain had been something of a constant. In his head, down his body, along every nerve and muscle fiber, the magic of the Keepstone pulsed night and day. It was that magic that let him join the Sparkle Sisters, of course, and kept Brad alive and fresh but - there was never really a point where it didn’t hurt. Magical Space Princes weren’t meant to have Keepstones, weren’t designed to channel them and their power correctly, and some pretty serious work had gone into making this one work through Chad.</p><p>When he’d had the memory of Thomas to lean on, to keep him upright and moving forward, it hadn’t been so bad. Without him…</p><p>A knock sounded at the door and Chad twitched involuntarily as the sound echoed between his ears. The silence brought tinnitus, but the knocking was so, so much worse he couldn’t help the little sound of agony that tore itself from his lips as he burrowed deeper into his bed. He just had to stay here, and quiet, and still, and the pain would leave eventually.</p><p>“Chad?”</p><p>Ricci wasn’t the most shrill of the Sparkle Sisters - that honor belonged to the beautiful and bubbly Elliana - but her voice still seemed to bounce off his Keepstone and reverberate through his head that just made the paint that much worse. Chad couldn’t hold back the groan of agony at the spike, and that also didn’t help any.</p><p>“Chad, nobody’s seen you in a few days, and we’re worried.”</p><p>He was fine, he could handle this, he would be fine. Nothing was wrong beyond his ability to handle, he just had to wait this out and the pain would go back to manageable levels. He could do this.</p><p>“Chad, I’m coming in,” Ricci sounded both apologetic and determined, and Chad had no chance to object before a slice of harsh fluorescent light from the hallway landed squarely on his face.</p><p>Chad couldn’t help the sound of agony he made as the light drilled holes into his skull directly through his eyes. He’d been hit full-on by laser blasts that hurt less. Direct shots from plasma weapons hurt less. The redoubled pain in his head made his stomach twist and it was all he could do to wriggle over to the side of the bed before retching. There was nothing to come up but bile and a little bit of the tepid ginger tea he’d managed to choke down at some point in the last six hours, but it still smelled and that kept his stomach from settling back down like he wished it would.</p><p>“Chad!” Ricci’s cry of dismay did exactly nothing to help matters, and Chad whimpered as it echoed.</p><p>“Ricci! Over here,” Brad called in a half-whisper half-shout that made Chad want to curl up and die a little less than Ricci’s shout had.</p><p>Ricci shot a glance his way before walking over to Brad, but Chad was currently beyond speech. Fortunately the door had closed behind her at some point, so at least the light was off his face, but his stomach still roiled unpleasantly from the smell and from his hasty movements. He could hear Brad and Ricci conversing in whispers, but with his brains slowly leaking from his ears he couldn’t tell what they were saying. He couldn’t tell how long they’d talked, either, just that it seemed like forever and no time at all. Finally, Ricci approached the bed where he’d curled himself into a protective ball under his covers again.</p><p>“Chad?” she asked in a voice just above a whisper, and he twitched at the sound. Taking that as an affirmation he was listening, Ricci continued on. “Chad, I’m going to time bubble you and clean this mess up, okay? And once you feel better, we’ll get Elliana to heal you.”</p><p>He managed to grunt an affirmative, but he wasn’t quite sure what Elliana could do. It was his Keepstone forcing so very much magic down magic channels that simply weren’t designed to handle the volume that was causing the problem, as far as Chad was aware. This was just the reason why boys weren’t allowed to be chosen by Keepstones; there was nothing wrong for Elliana to repair.</p><p>Still, he couldn’t articulate his thoughts - in fact, he was probably lucky just to be able to think thoughts at this point - and so in the space between one breath and the next Ricci and the smell of vomit vanished. It was probably closer to twenty minutes in real time, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. All he had to do was hang on, and he could get through this.</p><p>He could do that.</p>
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